Ancient of Days
God
As God
Requires
That we love God
With our minds
With our hearts
With our souls
And that
We love our neighbors
As ourselves
Which does mean
Self-love
Must be in there
Too
It isn’t a request
It is a command
From God
First command
Second command
At least as Deuteronomy
And Jesus
Has arranged
What we are told
To do
I know we see all this
As optional
As if God required less
Than the military
Or our bosses
Or out contracts
Though these came first
And do not change
With rank
Or a new job
It is a
God who commands
For whom blood was required
And a nation follow
Or be brought down
Be outcast
By the power of
Worldly forces
That won the day
Because the people had
Abandoned
God
And faith
And certainly
Obedience
It all seems ancient
Irrelevant
And at best
Relative
Doesn’t it
We moderns do not live
This way
We don’t fret over altars
Or unblemished offerings
Not of animals
And certainly not
Ourselves
We take the dross of doctrine
Leave the rest
Inside the book
Inside the church or temple
That we enter and exit
Now and then
Even weekly
Without doubt for holidays
Yes
Without doubt
This year
God loves
God waits
God invites
God doesn’t require
Fancy dress
Or best behavior
God love us as we are
Wants no change
Might wait for deathbeds
For confessions
And an
Affirmation
Guaranteeing heaven
Or God’s our pal
And pals don’t leave other pals
Out in the dark
The rain
By the gate
That we’re sure will open for us
God’s our pal
The dross of doctrine
Looks
Behavior
What we give
Whom we serve
Tangential faith
Appreciation for the invitation
Please stand by
The modern spiritual life
Lukewarm at best
And it seems
God doesn’t cotton to
Lukewarm
Or bits of this or that
That might be good
If only by
Our arguments
Or statements
To the press
Or whoever might be listening
In the mirror
We’ll get around to God
Perhaps
The way God is
And what God wants
After work
And after home
And after neighborhood
Relations
Maybe during vacation
Or really
After
Maybe when we’re there
And hear a sermon
We could instead
Think about what God wants
Think in our own way
Decide
In our own way
Maybe after entertainment
And by the way
For a show I pay with some money
In the plate
This should all be more
Impressive
Than it is
On my own
I might do better
Find better
Maybe I don’t have to come back
So much
A touch of religion
Less of faith
Nothing like
The mind
The heart
The spirit
After all
Faith is not that smart
It’s not material
Enough
It doesn’t admire
What I do
And what I have
Enough
And I don’t see faith
Changing wars
Or floods
Or earthquakes
After all
And how did people
Used to believe
With dead animals on altars
No
Thank you
I’ll take life as it is
As it’s progressed
As it’s civilized
With all the medicines
And the technology
With the better weapons on our side
How relevant
Is a faith in God
How necessary
Children know what to do
They have Mister Rogers
Sesame Street
And everything else
Approved
For their good growth
They are healthy
I’m sure
And if not all of them
Well
They were slipped through
The loop
Somehow
And that’s too bad
But most of them are fine
As most of us are fine
What more
Can we want
And God
Well
God
An invitation
Well
That’s nice
Maybe when I’m older
Have less to do
Fewer things
To worry over
Figure out
Make plans for
Yes
Then I’ll have time
Really to think about
Religion
And what a God
Might really want
That I could give
I’ll have less money then
But I’ll time
Yes
I’ll have time
To give you
That’s all right
Isn’t it
I mean
You’re a loving God
Which means your patient
Right
You’ll give me all the time
I need
C L Couch
Photo by WILLIAN REIS on Unsplash
a wing and a prayer
(2 poems)
marathon magic movies
I wish I were a wizard
a good one
as in
good at it
I could change the things
that frustrate me
and are
only things
the things that
do not fit
the things with
parts
that do not work
so well
as they did
once
or I could make
new things
out of unused molecules
of things
that broke
and-or I gave up on
a while ago
a wizard
for convenience
though
maybe I’d have to
pick my sides
as well
though it seems
that wizards often
stood between them all
to force and even host
negotiation
then
once all was done
return
like Cincinnatus to the farm
rather to the cave
to rest
and learn some more
of magic in the world
and the world
itself
perhaps
for which
the magic serves
obviously spiritual
do I want to say
something
obviously spiritual
always
thought it always seems
to come with
something secular
as well
and that’s because
I am here
while you are there
(and here)
and your host moves
in between
what do you say
what does love say
why can’t I
serve these all
the time
doubtlessly
with only a little more
than what I have
and what I am
and this
prevaricates
this elongated pause
while at the edge of things
that wait
even indifferently
for my
participation
the world waits
in emptiness
and need
and with too much of it
held hostage by too few
behind the gates
of hell
that we are told
cannot prevail
against
our own rock
our body in the faith
that set on it
these gates
even with those
who push from the inside
cannot
shall not
stand
wow
all this from me
and those like me
have faith
and share in faith
to love actively
and maybe not much more
which is
Herculean
beyond classic labors
that shall
tell a new story
a second set
of revelations
as it were
so I believe
and sit with those
who believe
then we shall stand
and nothing bad
what has chosen to be evil
shall prevail
but at the last shall hide
and have its final
bastions
thrown apart
by faith
togetherness
and love
which sounds simplistic
to be simple
but there it is
like Jesus
or another Lord
accessible
by anyone
no secrets
or secret knowledge
simply
believe
together
and together
love
and though it’s not
the most important thing
well
to win
c l couch
photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash
Nearly
So we come before you
And where is
Before you
We could turn around
And still we are
Before you
Like the breastplate
Of Saint Patrick
You are
In every direction
And inside
If we allow
The paradox of making
Should we owe
Everything
And yet make up our minds
And you
As God
Await
Our own discretion
Free will
We say
An easy name for doctrine
Better doctrine
Both
Explains and serve
Reality
And this is easy
You are God
And you are near
C L Couch
Photo by Steve Lieman on Unsplash
Two intrepid riders jump in the lift bucket for a ride to the top of the Union Congregational Church Steeple to remove the weather vane and directional so that repairs can be made. Hazmat suits needed due to danger of white faced hornet nest inside the top of the steeple.
Groton, MA, USA
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
(from the Breastplate of Saint Patrick)
Prayer for Me and Everyone
(and everyone who needs to pray this way)
O God
Our help
Help me
Keep me safe
And sane enough
For jazz
Or really
For the world
Largely indifference
But with those
As we say
(as I say)
Who’d just as soon
Cheat you
As smile at you
(who cheat you
first
by smiling
at you)
Really
Though
I need your company
And to feel it
Please
As companionship
If I may ask
Not so much
As a judge
Even though you are
And shall
And woe to me
When that business
Comes
And
Yes
I’m thinking
Like the Amish farmer
Who when asked
If saved
Replied
For all this faith
And service
I hope so
And I hope so
Though there is a world
That needs you
Even for orneriness
And even
Scorn
And hatred
For the differences
It fears
While some of us find
Difference
Interesting
And how did I evolve
This way
Conservative
Yet believing
In the prismatic way
One light becomes
Well
Help me
Lord
Please
I am too poor
Without resources
To do much
But I am I
Such as that is
And it seems
According to doctrine
And the smallest
Mustard-seed
Like
Miracles that happen
You persist
Somehow perfectly
In loving me
And keeping me
And I’d like to ask
And will
About my friends
By blood
And choice
And happenstance
And for a world
That’s cracked
And losing air
To please give everyone
A chance
And then another
We need you
In unknowing
We are a cloud of witnesses
If a stormy
One
You made
And let become
Over ages
Where is Eden now
Where are the rivers
And the perfect
Vegetation
And shall
We ever
Know such things again
As at the start
If that
The angel on assignment
Could step down
And lowering
The sword on fire
Raise the other arm
Then say
The trialing time is over
Welcome back
C L Couch
Photo by NASA Hubble Space Telescope on Unsplash
for once
(please or is it pleas)
if God
then God
come down
not only from the Christmas tree
but from every tall place
we cannot reach
or only with precarity
and up from every
deep dark place
we can imagine
not to mention woeful places
we cannot
and from left
or from the right
and then from the inside
where our own spirits
reside
with or without alliances
from the spirit
that moves everywhere
and with our will
might live
within us
God come from every place
every point
we measure
and beyond
and realize
please
for once
a real form
that we can see
from which we hear the voice
that we could taste
and close enough to smell
even to touch
with or without piercing points
for remembrance
or for proof
and be here for a while
we could have coffee
with or without
an armageddon
after
c l couch
photo by NASA Hubble Space Telescope on Unsplash
“Christ Climbed Down” is a poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, which I thought of when writing about God climbing ("come down")
the right hand doesn’t know
(sometimes left people have it right)
God
I haven’t mentioned you
though I know
you’re there
we are in dialogue
it seems
I hope it is an angel
who negotiates
like the bush that burned
and spoke
and the angel who held
Abram’s hand
and changed him
in the harshest lesson of
obedience
and mercy
and not the voice of one
erstwhile
who cackles now
so subtly
so quiet-like
to say
do this
do that
my master calls
and through it
we will ruin everything
‘til everything become
inferno
and subservience
without the pleasure
from a lord
who gives none
which is a lot
to parse
while deciding
to go right
or to go left
listening to one
the angelic
and other one
the sinister
like the shoulders
in cartoons
only the stakes
though small
could become a trend
of listening
to one leaning
or the other
I might have let the demon in
so long ago
and while want the angel-voice
alone
have struggled ‘tween the two
two wills represented
and how long
‘til we know better
easily
domestically
or cosmically
while the stakes are only
turning right
or left
the angelic
or the sinister
which makes a left hand
of theology
and will
to work
and to believe
and within these
grace
to have it right
(or left)
and so be saved
c l couch
photo by Nguyen Minh on Unsplash
I Do Confess ’t
God
I feel fat
Like the fat
That Gertrude
Said of Hamlet
Meaning
Tired
Or unprepared
Or
You know
Fat
I think
You’re with me
On the inside
And guide me
From there
The presence
Of your
Spirit
Prompting
Poking
Whatever motion
Works
And I
Recalcitrant
(and fat)
Do not get it
Push back
With my own will
‘Til near
Destruction
Sometimes
And
Sometimes
Even after
You’re with me
When I’m
Slow
And wrong
Through the thickness
Of my flesh
That hides
Everything I want
To hide
Awareness of the harm
I cause
In all directions
To all souls
And do I do
So much
Or
Take too much credit
With vanity
Somehow
In deprivation
When
I know
You can ameliorate
Reach out
In dreams
Or more directly
Touching the vibrations
Of heart-wisdom
In the hurt
And maybe
For the moment
Lost
C L Couch
QUEEN He’s fat and scant of breath.— Hamlet 5.2.313
Photo by cal gao on Unsplash
God Buy Ye
God be with you
‘Til we meet again
As God is with you
Now
Which is to say
With us
And a hope
Therefore
For company
As you go upon the Earth
And through the
Changeable
Sometimes trap-laden
Population
God with you
God with me
If I may say
And certainly with us
Mine
And yours
Better than Mizpah
Certainly
More so
When Moses met the king
With the stone heart
More like near the rock
In fact
Where water
Leaped to save us
Or like Galilee
Where thousands met
To hear
The saving word
God keep you
And us
Even through
Maybe a long time
‘Til
We meet again
C L Couch
God buy ye, a Medieval understanding of salvation (paying a condemnation’s ransom with the coin that was Christ’s life); God be with ye a wish for spiritual company and comfort for a friend; all becomes Goodbye
though ironically I say hello from Pittsburgh where I was brought through cold, some snow to arrive; I get another car here, since mine was totaled (no one hurt except some cars), which is technically the main thing; I get to visit with some family, which is the real thing
hoping your winter days (or summer to the south) are grand,
God be with ye,
Christopher
space ranger God
so many
science-fiction futures
read sad to me
yet
maybe I know
why
because they are nearly
always
God-less
the meaning not mentioned
much less
taking part
in new creations
and inventions
comforting
again
our flaws
but gladdened by
the progress
humans make
it might be hard
to craft
too difficult
in fact
since we must invent
our future
stake our hold on it
come disaster
or a clean and silver form
of paradise
and how to say
there’s God in this
that God
pushed us in the spacecraft
that brought the first
to a new world
we instead
must
try to own
and have such bid for ownership
tested
and tried
by what we find
or whom we find
there
toward a final tempering
of us
that accommodates the cosmos
for the differences
we find
to mesh with them
at last
who we are
perhaps we fear
the role
of God would spoil the story
(the real story
too)
and so we play out
only ourselves
on new
planetary stages
and all the things that fly
between
smallest things
(like mustard seeds)
or
parsec-sized things
God might bide
at the launching pad
or well behind
like farewelling parents
waving kerchiefs
allowing tears
for those who leave
we shall not see
again
though
in fact
God sees
and might see toward the end
of our expansion age
how we have done
and what we’ve done
to be here
there might be
judgment following
of our accounting
then decisions
regarding more dimensions
multi-universes
to encounter
encounter serving as
the theme
maybe the most important theme
in sci-fi
and for all the real findings
it inspires
c l couch
Spaceship Earth
photo by Ronald Yang on Unsplash
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